Pile fob rolling beams



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN GRIFFEN, OF PHOENIXVILLE. PENNSYLVANIA.

PILE FOR ROLLING BEAMS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,738, dated December 1, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN GRIFFEN, of Phoenixville, in the county of Chester', in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvements in the Process of Making lrought-Iron Beams or Girders; and I do hereby declare the fol lowing to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a vert-ical section of a pile prepared for making a girder. Figs. 2 and 3 represent parts thereof. Figs. 4 and 5 represent a modification of the same pile similar to that shown in Fig. l.

Wrought iron girders are usually made in the form of an I or the section having a central upright web or stem and an upper and lower Hange. In making such girders it has been customary to make a solid pile of rectangular section by laying a number of flat bars or strips of iron one on top of the other. The pile so made is then inserted in the furnace and heated to welding heat and then passed through a series of grooves in rollers of forms gradually approximating to the ultimate I form of the girder. The effect of so preparing the pile and rolling it is that the iron being forced to undergo great changes in its sectional shape it is unduly strained in some parts and unduly compressed in others and hence it is frequently torn and broken so as to be rendered unfit for use and when girders so made are used they are so weakened in parts that the amount of strain which they are capable of sustaining is very much diminished.

My improvement consists in forming the pile of two flat pieces or bars of about double the alternate width of the upper and lower flange. These bars are first rolled out with a groove in them such as is shown in Fig. 2 of about three quarters of an inch deep and two and a half inches wide for a seven inch girder for example. I then place a series of two or more bars of'iron one on top of each other as shown in section at C Fig. 3. I then place the series O in the lower groove e e of B and I place a small wedge of iron in the groove c e to retain C in position and then I place the groove d 0l in the upper piece A on top of the pile C and place a wedge in the groove d d in like manner as before. The pile thus formed has the appearance in section shown in Fig. l. This is placed in the furnace heated to welding heat and then rolled through a series of grooves in rolls, the first groove and all the subsequent grooves are of the same or I shape as the section of the ultimate grooves.

The advantages of this mode of preparing the pile is first, that the number of grooves through which the girder was to be passed is reduced about one third, second, the shape of the pile being nearly the same in sectional shape as that of the alternate girder the iron is equally and uniformly compressed on all parts, third, the insertion of the piece C in the grooves CZ CZ and c e insures a perfect joint or connection of the web with the flanges while heating, fourth, the amount of splitting and tearing and consequent waste in the rolling of the girders is materially diminished. I have found by experiment that twenty five per cent. in the cost of making girders can be saved by this mode ofmaking the girders over the old mode and girders so made possess considerable increased strength.

The form of the pieces A and B may be modified by changing the shape of the grooves as is shown at A and B Fig. 4. A T-shaped bar can be made on the same plan by using one piece A in forming the pile as shown in Fig. 5 and inserting the upright strip into the groove in that piece. Instead of employing a series of two, three or more pieces to form the pile on the webbing one thick piece might be used, and for T bars it should be beveled.

Having thus described my improvement what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The manufacture of wrought iron I or T girders and bars by forming the pile of grooved pieces in combination with the intermediate webbing arranged and combined in the manner substantially as above described.

JOHN GRIFFEN. Witnesses U. B. MCALLISTER, R. L. HUGHES. 

